The present embodiments relate to predicting locations of internal markers for medical imaging. Internal anatomical structures may be used for medical scan planning, such as planning for computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance (MR), fluoroscopy, or ultrasound scanning. For instance, for CT scanning, internal structures may be used to determine the scan range to obtain topogram or full CT scan, depending upon which organ needs to be scanned. For MR, the pulse sequence may be planned to reduce scan time by focusing on particular anatomy. For ultrasound, the internal region of interest for scanning may be more quickly located based on anatomical information.
The internal anatomical structures may be located by scanning a patient. Such scanning is time consuming and may subject the patient to ionizing radiation. There have been advances in realistic human body shape modeling and simulation in the graphics domain. Different statistical models have been applied to learn compact parametric representations of the human body shape. However, their impact on the healthcare domain is relatively limited. Existing shape modeling approaches focus primarily on the skin surface while the healthcare domain pays more attention to the internal organs.